


An Evening to Remember

by CatrinaSL



Series: Three Things [68]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Implied Sexual Content, Mardi Gras Beads, Paper Towels, SHIP DARCY LEWIS WITH ALL THE THINGS, Sharing a Bed, Suggestive Themes, Three Things, raccoons - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 20:01:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13488732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatrinaSL/pseuds/CatrinaSL
Summary: Darcy's ready for that charity dinner, but her date isnotwho she thought it was. This is going to go so well.





	An Evening to Remember

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SG_Dingo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SG_Dingo/gifts).



> SG_Dingo prompted Raccoons, New Orleans Beads, Paper Towels.
> 
> Thank you to Aleph for her beta services!

"Okay, I'm ready to go!" Darcy announced as she breezed into the lab.

Andrea McCoy whistled and Jane gasped. "Wow, Darcy," she said. "I haven't seen you that sparkly since New Orleans."

"New Orleans?" Derek Jennings repeated.

"None of your business, Jennings; what happens at Mardi Gras stays at Mardi Gras,” Darcy told him, “but I  _ will _ say that you can get just as many beads with a low cut shirt as you can by flashing all the goods, so you can take that advice to the bank."

"...Thanks?"

"Bruce!" Darcy spotted him talking to his assistant on the other side of the room, and frowned. " What's with the lab coat? Why are you not ready? Charity dinner? Washington DC?"

Bruce looked up, taking Darcy in with a look of surprise. His assistant Alison Garza turned and knocked over Bruce's coffee at the sight of Darcy’s cleavage. McCoy cleared her throat pointedly and tossed Garza a roll of paper towels, and Garza turned her back on both Darcy and her annoyed girlfriend, rushing to mop up the mess.

"Oh yeah, that's tonight," Bruce remembered.

"Yeah, tonight, like, leaving in ten minutes," Darcy reminded him. "Go get fancy; Clint's not gonna keep the quinjet waiting."

"Uh, actually," Bruce began, rounding the lab bench and approaching. "I was never planning to go."

Darcy looked at him like he was crazy. "You practically  _ begged _ me for  _ weeks _ to go to this thing with you, Bruce! What do you  _ mean _ you weren't going to go?!"

"I was actually asking if you'd accompany an old friend of mine," he told her.

"A friend of yours," Darcy repeated. "Bruce, all your friends are here. I mean, I guess you probably still have a few from the 'Professor Banner' era. Or are we talking whatever colleagues 'Backwoods Bruce' had? Am I going to a charity banquet with six raccoons in a trench coat?"

Bruce chuckled, which Darcy appreciated even though it didn't answer her question. "No, it's... Betty. Ross."

"Betty Ross," Darcy clarified. Bruce nodded. "Betty Ross who you dated ages ago. The Betty Ross who encouraged me to study political science in the first place. The Betty Ross I had a crush on during my  _ entire _ time at Culver.  _ That _ Betty Ross?"

Bruce bit his lip. "That would be the one," he told her. "You were asking about her recently, so I—"

"Great. Awesome. You're the best matchmaker ever, Bruce," Darcy said, barely disguising her sarcasm as she patted him on the shoulders. "I'm gonna go try not to make a fool of myself in this dress."

"You look amazing," he told her.

"Stop digging, friend," she sighed, and left the lab.

* * *

Darcy spotted Betty the second she walked into the ballroom. She was absolutely stunning, but Darcy thought she preferred Betty's professor look: glasses, her hair shoved up in a ponytail, striding across campus while scolding a grad student.

Not that Darcy didn't appreciate the mostly backless dress. Because she did.

Betty's eyes lit up when she caught sight of Darcy. She beamed and excused herself from a likely boring conversation to head straight for Darcy.

"Thank you so much for coming," she said as they embraced. "It's been forever. I really appreciate you helping me out; donors at these things get so handsy after a few drinks. They would never have bought the story that Bruce and I got back together, so I'm glad you could fill in." Betty ran her eyes over Darcy's evening gown. "You look incredible."

"Thanks, you too, um, one question?"

"Mmhm?" Betty hummed, waving at someone across the room.

"Bruce didn't mention... I mean, am I supposed to be your girlfriend tonight?"

Betty groaned. "He didn't tell you?"

Darcy shook her head. "I thought I was going to be on  _ his _ arm, actually."

"Okay, it's fine..." Betty said, mostly to herself, Darcy thought. "I've just been... telling everyone that we're engaged, but it's fine, I'll think of something—"

"No, it's all right, I can do engaged," Darcy assured her. Betty's panic was a little adorable and Darcy was willing to do almost anything to get her to smile again. "We're engaged, future wife. Let's do this."

"Really?" Betty asked, relief radiating off of her.

"Yeah, absolutely," Darcy said. She leaned closer and put her arm around Betty's waist. "It's only for one evening, right?"

"Thank you," Betty sighed, leaning her forehead against Darcy's shoulder. Darcy tried not to look startled when Betty pressed a quick kiss on her cheek, especially because Betty then grabbed her hand and led her further into the ballroom. "Come on, I want to introduce you to someone!"

* * *

An evening of lying followed.

Darcy and Betty stuck as close to truth as possible: they had met and become friends at a campus activist group when Betty was still in grad school. 

Every time Darcy confessed the crush she'd always had on Betty, Betty blushed. Darcy just hoped people assumed that Betty had known that part of the story before Darcy told it. 

They came up with the "we knew we wanted to be together after the Battle of New York" bit after the third person they talked to.

And Darcy pulled a proposal scene straight out of her daydreams to entertain the people who sat with them at dinner.

"You must be so proud," said the woman seated next to Darcy when Betty got up to give a speech during dessert.

"Absolutely," Darcy replied, but she meant it.

* * *

"I think I might need to get you into an evening gown every time I have to come to one of these things," Betty said as they waited for a cab outside afterward. "You charmed the pants off everybody."

"I didn't do it alone," Darcy said. "I think if they had taken a poll, the other attendees would have voted us cutest couple."

Betty laughed, and Darcy's heart thumped. It had really been a while since they had seen each other, and Darcy had forgotten how much she liked making Betty laugh.

"You headed back to New York tonight?" Betty asked. 

Darcy cleared her throat and nodded, reminding herself that Betty was probably just making conversation. "Yeah, I think so, but I guess with the way things have gone tonight I should probably check in to make sure." She fished around for her phone in the pocket of her coat and dialed up Clint.

When he didn't answer, she called Bruce. When he didn't answer, she called Tony. When  _ he _ didn't answer, she checked the news.

"AVENGERS BATTLE GODZILLA OFF NOVA SCOTIAN COAST" she read aloud to Betty.

"Oh no..." Betty said, looking over Darcy's shoulder at the blurry picture showing a big monster (definitely not Godzilla) and what was unmistakably Tony zooming around its heads. "Well, I've got a hotel room, if you want to... come back with me?"

"I don't want to put you out," Darcy began, but Betty waved her concerns away.

"You saved me," she said. "Now I get to save you."

"I guess it would also look weird if the two of us left in separate cabs," Darcy reasoned, spotting Mrs. Richperson coming out of the ballroom. (Darcy hadn't bothered to remember her  _ actual _ name, but she stuck out in all the people Darcy and Betty had spoken to that evening because she had leaned over to her husband to inform him in a loud whisper, "They're lesbians, Harold.") The woman waved at her, and Darcy waved back.

"Good point," Betty agreed, smiling at Mrs. Richperson before moving closer so that Darcy could put an arm around her. For warmth, or for their fake engagement, Darcy didn't care. Betty was pressed up against her, and she owed Bruce a  _ gigantic _ favor for tricking her into this.

* * *

"There's only one bed, of course there's only one bed," Darcy said when they entered the hotel room.

"What was that?" Betty asked, absorbed with taking her earring off.

"Nothing at all whatsoever," Darcy replied. "Want some help?"

"Sure," Betty said, surrendering her jewelry to Darcy. "These are so fiddly; it took me about twenty minutes to get them both on this afternoon."

"Yeah, they're really..." Darcy frowned, focusing on her task. She figured out the trick of the clasp and pulled the earring off. "...difficult," she finished, noticing Betty watching her in the mirror.

When they made eye contact, Betty looked away. "Uh, are you okay staying here?" Betty asked. "I requested a single, but if you don't want—"

"It's fine," Darcy lied, moving to the other side. "I'm sure we'll be fine. I really appreciate you offering to let me stay. I've got so much product in my hair; I can't wait to get in the shower!"

"Of course, go ahead," Betty said as Darcy freed her from her other earring. She grabbed her toiletries bag off the bathroom counter. "I'll just... change out here."

"Right." Darcy closed the door behind her and stared into the mirror for a moment. "You can do this, Lewis," she told her reflection, but it didn't look convinced. She reached in to turn on the shower, and realized something. "Hey, Betty?"

Betty squeaked when the bathroom door opened and pulled her half removed dress back up to cover herself.

"Sorry," Darcy said, turning her back only to come face to face with the mirror on the back of the door. She opted for covering her eyes instead and said, "I was hoping you could unzip me."

"Of course." Betty's voice was much closer than Darcy had expected. 

"Sorry for just barging out here," Darcy said, blushing when she felt Betty's fingers working the hook and eye fastener at the back of her dress. "I didn't realize you were—"

"It's all right," Betty laughed, drawing Darcy's zipper slowly down. Darcy shivered involuntarily.

"Thanks," she said, retreating into the bathroom.

"No problem," Betty told her, smiling as Darcy shut the door.

Darcy assessed her reflection's worried look. "This is going to go so well."

* * *

"Darcy?"

"Yeah?"

"Oh, you're... not asleep."

"Not yet." It had been an hour staring at the ceiling, trying not to think about Betty wearing nothing but a T-shirt and boy shorts. Or the fact that she was next to Darcy. In bed. Within arm's reach. 

"I... was just thinking... I wanted to ask..."

Darcy could feel Betty shift onto her side, turning toward her. 

She wasn't sure if she was supposed to reply or just wait for Betty to speak, so she focused on the swoop of textured ceiling she'd decided to call 'Greg' instead of kicking herself for not pretending to be asleep. Answering so quickly just made her look eager, and... Greg was not distracting her enough.

"You had  _ one job _ , Greg," she growled under her breath.

"Huh?"

"Nothing, talking to the ceiling," Darcy replied. "You were saying something?"

Betty chuckled; Darcy could feel the vibration of it through the sheets. Greg. His swoopiness was a little more prominent than other bits of the ceiling around him. Maybe he ruled them. Maybe he was King Swoop.

"Did you mean what you said earlier?"

"I said a lot of not true things tonight," Darcy said. "You're going to have to—"

"When you said you had a crush on me the semester before I graduated," Betty said. "Before I met Bruce."

"I..." Darcy internally debated on introducing Greg to Betty and getting her opinion on whether the dark splotch across the middle was a shadow or actually something on the ceiling.

"You don't have to answer, I was just wondering."

Betty began to turn over again.

"Yes," Darcy blurted before she had a chance to overthink it. Rash decisions now, regrets later.

Betty paused, staring up at the ceiling. Darcy couldn't blame her; Greg was fascinating.  She almost missed it when Betty whispered, "Why didn't you say something then?"

"Be...cause," Darcy replied, knowing that wouldn't be enough. "I... didn't want to get rejected, I guess. I wanted to stay friends with you even if that's all we ever were. And I love Bruce. You two were really cute together."

"So you... still had a crush on me when I was with Bruce?"

Darcy sighed. In an ideal world, she'd say, "Betty, I still have feelings for you  _ now _ ," but in an ideal world Betty would already  _ know _ that and they'd be spooning, so she just said, "Yes."

"What about after?"

"After when? After Bruce?"

Betty nodded, a lock of her hair falling off of her shoulder and onto her pillow. Darcy knew that if she had been staring dutifully at the ceiling, she wouldn't have seen it. She decided she was okay with that. "After the Battle of New York."

"Oh, that," Darcy said. "I thought about calling a lot." She'd thought about  _ Betty _ a lot, but didn't know if she should be  _ that _ honest. "But, um... yeah. Then too."

Betty turned to look at her. Darcy hoped Greg wouldn't feel abandoned. "And the proposal—we went on that exact walk after dinner the last time you and Jane came to Culver for a lecture."

"I remember thinking it was a romantic spot," Darcy said.

Betty pressed her lips together and took a deep breath. "I almost kissed you that night."

Darcy stared at her. Maybe she had fallen asleep. Maybe she was dreaming.

"I'm... I might kiss you  _ now _ . Is that okay?"

Darcy didn't answer with words.

* * *

When the morning sun found the edges of the curtains, Darcy woke. She spared a thought for Greg, who looked less impressive in the daylight.

More interesting was Betty, whose hair lay across her bare shoulder as she curled against Darcy's side. She looked just as impressive in the daylight. 

"It wasn't a dream, then," Darcy told Greg, who seemed uninterested.

"Not anymore," Betty sighed sleepily.

**Author's Note:**

> The Lab Tech Quartet has also appeared in [Avengers Argument, Ended](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7184288) and [Consider Dragons](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7741735).
> 
> [Prompt a Three Things fic!](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf7S2MbkK0CxVHMG3kF8CD6fYqD0zwY-J6MqLb21nmFyRpE4w/viewform)
> 
> [Reblog on tumblr](http://catrinasl.tumblr.com/post/170161445613/an-evening-to-remember)
> 
> Tumblr: [catrinasl](http://catrinasl.tumblr.com)
> 
> Twitter: [@Catrina_SL](http://twitter.com/Catrina_SL)


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